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Ruska of Point North
Ruska of Point North is a young half-orc civilian from Point North whom The Company rescued from Alphabet's dragon cult and again from the Black Hand Corporation. Saving Ruska the second time was a surprisingly altruistic action for the mostly evil party of the time. Ruska is eighteen years old and has a fiance. She speaks only Orc. She works in a rope-selling shop under the Dome. She is sheltered enough that she had never seen an illithid before meeting Ashra, and asked Leilah Maloch if she was an angel. (To be fair, she was kind of frozen at the time, illithids are rare in Goneril under the best of circumstances, aasimars aren't the most common race outside of the Nyasa Civilization, and Point North is in the ass end of nowhere.) According to her memories of the incident, she stayed after hours one night to pack up the shop and was suddenly kidnapped by force. During the next period of time she remembers being "there, but not there," a state consistent with the other victims of domination effects the party has encountered. She was able to share no clear memories of her actions under domination, but remembered the faces of Alphabet and the Blackguard of the Dome. At some point, presumably during her captivity, her teeth were filed down, which counts as mutilation in her culture. She said nothing about it when interviewed. She had marks on her ankle indicating her blood was let in the same manner as Ashra's. In Eon The party first encountered Ruska in late March of 1443, when they went to the forum at midnight looking for Alphabet, whom they conflated with the Blackguard of the Dome. Ashra stood in plain view, waiting, but saw no one until Leilah cast Invisibility Purge and a cloaked figure appeared standing against a column. The cloak was large and heavy enough that it was unclear whether or not the figure was an illithid. The figure responded to telepathy in Illithid; in retrospect, this was probably someone else, possibly Alphabet himself, who hid nearby and replied telepathically to what Ashra sent. The figure walked along the ground without trouble even when the ice of the area began to melt. It led her to an ice wall, magically opened a doorway, then led her through a long passage in the ice into a small room deep in the middle of the wall. Once Ashra was securely inside the room and the way out had disappeared again, the figure began to convulse. When Ashra pulled the figure's hood off, it was revealed to be Ruska, bound and gagged, convulsing presumably in fear. The Circle of Sleep on the floor activated, and Ruska lost consciousness immediately. About five hours later, The Company made it to the lair of the white dragon sixty miles to the north, where Fab Dick's scrying indicated Ashra, Ashra's pack, and Ruska were unconscious on a pile of twisted logs. After defeating the dragon, they brought Ruska back to the Jade Kracken III with them, and Sam Ash treated her hypothermia. Despite the coat she was wearing, she was much worse off than Ashra, who had been out there some five hours in only her masterwork robes. Sam was able to stabilize her but not to make her condition improve. After a day or so of Sam's treatment, Ruska woke up and was interviewed by Ethan, Ashra, and Leilah. She was frightened but willing to answer questions, and recounted her memories of her capture as best she could. After being reassured that it never hurts, she allowed Ashra to read her mind as she tried to recall memories of her domination; Ashra confirmed that those are all the memories available to Ruska. The Handy Coat Ruska was wearing detected as evil, and she refused to remove it and wear Ashra's coat instead. Ashra used Suggestion to compel her to switch coats, but the Handy Coat was, as far as the party could tell, nothing more than a standard garment of its type. Given Ruska's poor condition and lack of improvement, the party decided to take her to the healers of the Black Hand Corporation. Wrapped in a winter blanket and carrying her coat over one arm, she went with Leilah to the Crna Ruka. Though the healers were polite as they took Ruska below decks, Ethan had a very bad feeling about all of this. His feelings were only confirmed when he managed to subtly scan the ship with Detect Magic and a Mirror of True Seeing: the ship was really lawful evil and had bloodstains on the deck. The party retreated to the Jade Kracken III and took to the sky when Liquid reported a "freaky" ship approaching. The party had a brief discussion about what to do over Ruska; Ashra was for leaving her for dead, while Leilah thought she might still be alive and worth saving. Ethan insisted on saving her, Leilah easily agreed, and Ashra went along with it. On Ashra's suggestion, Fab Dick scried on Ruska and found her tied to an altar in the Crna Ruka, being Blood Sacrificed by a cleric of Duplicitous. Unlike the altar that grabbed Ashra in the dragon's lair, this altar worked very slowly and had physical mechanisms for draining the blood. During the following battle, Leilah heroically rescued Ruska, bursting into the Crna Ruka with a Shatterspike and unintentionally bisecting the high priest. She destroyed first the bonds and then the altar, scooped Ruska up under one arm, and Dimension Doored away from Clint Walker, then delivered Ruska to the JKIII. Sam treated her wounds. Ruska supported the party's story when they talked to the 18th Legion, and was taken into the care of the legion's medics. The party asked after her later and was told that she had been safely returned to her fiancee. Category:NPCs Category:Goneril People